Terrorism and cultural issues in Islam
As the latest barbarity of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square has demonstrated, fighting terror is difficult and it will keep Turkey and the world occupied for a long time. This is because it has sociologic and cultural resources that nurture it. This is the actual problem.
Regarding ISIL and its likes as a "conspiracy of global powers" is almost hiding it in a cloud of mysticism, whereas the "sociology" that lies at its roots has to be scrutinized.
Assuming that the reason for ISIL to attack Turkey is the government's foreign policy would also prevent us from seeing this sociology. Didn't ISIL attack Tunisia, which has no geographical or political connection with the Middle East? While criticizing our foreign policy, rational arguments should be used.
Since the Afghan jihad, almost for a quarter of a century, under different names and in different regions, "armed jihadists" have emerged. They have also poisoned the just struggle of the Chechens.
They grew with bloody clashes in Iraq and Syria; they also diversified. They added some appeal to the "terror mysticism" with Islamic slogans. Imagine, "beheading" is appealing to certain people; it does not prevent them from joining ISIL.
French political scientist Oliver Roy, who wrote the book "The Failure of Political Islam," said this was the "Islamization of radicalism," adding that "Jihadism is a nihilist rebellion unique to one generation."
Even though there is no violence in conventional Salafism, when it became politicized and radicalized in our times, these "jihadist" organizations emerged.
Conservative Salafism focuses on the subject of "faith and practice." It is very strict. For instance,...
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